The Oakland Raiders, who brought in three veteran quarterbacks to compete for backup jobs, released quarterback Andrew Walter on Thursday, according to a source.

Walter showed up at camp expecting something to happen. Jeff Garcia, Bruce Gradkowski and Charlie Frye were signed during the offseason. Walter, a third-round choice in 2005, figured he might be the odd man out. He was right.

"I'm very excited for a fresh start," Walter said. "We'll see what happens. The only thing different that I would have hoped for is that it would have happened earlier. Things haven't changed since February and it occurred just now."

In four seasons, Walter had only nine starts, eight in 2006 and one last season. A 6-foot-6 quarterback from Arizona State, Walter completed 174-of-333 passes for 1,919 yards and three touchdowns during his Raiders career.

Walter is 27 years old.

John Clayton is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com. Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.